


Tea Party

by thefruitsofmysoul



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 08:05:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11398491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefruitsofmysoul/pseuds/thefruitsofmysoul
Summary: Sometimes, if he squinted just right, Charlie could imagine that his father didn't entirely hate him.





	Tea Party

Sometimes, his father was nice.

Charlie _had_ to believe that. At eight-years-old, it was a tough pill to swallow that his own father could dislike him so much. In fact, if Charlie squinted his eyes _just right_ , he could remember one specific time in which his father actually liked him.

_Charlie was seven-years-old. His mother, Jessica, was pregnant with his little sister, Alison, and Charlie couldn’t wait. He was determined to be the best older sibling there ever was._

_Sorry Jason._

_Charlie’s little brother, Jason, didn’t really seem to be all that excited at the prospect of gaining a new sibling, so Charlie would be excited for the both of them._

_With an eager grin on his face, he made his way to his room, shutting the door gently behind him and walking over to a small table in his room. The table was just large enough that Charlie could pretend it was a playhouse set, big enough for people his size to have tea parties._

_He reached over and grabbed his beloved teddy bear and placed it in one of the seats, ruffling its fur as he did so._

_With another hurried glance at the door, making sure that no one would intrude, Charlie slowly retrieved his teacup from underneath his bed, dusting it off gently before placing it on the table. In truth, the teacup had been his mother’s before, but once she had learned of his feminine tendencies, she had graciously gifted it to him._

_“Here’s some tea for you, Mr. Bear.” Charlie giggled as he pretended to pour some tea into a cup for his teddy, “Be careful. It’s hot!”_

_The bear, as expected, didn’t answer him, but Charlie liked to imagine that he’d received a “thanks” for his efforts._

_Carefully, Charlie pretended to pour some tea into his own cup, sipping at the imaginary substance leisurely. Reaching into his pocket, he retrieved a pair of his mother’s earrings. He’d dared Jason to get them for him, but never told the smaller boy what he intended on doing with them._

_He figured it was better that way. The less Jason knew, the less trouble he’d be in if their father ever found out._

_With a childish elegance, Charlie tried on the earrings, looking at his reflection in one of his room’s mirrors. He smiled happily and ruffled his hair. Though it was short now, he was definitely looking forward to growing it in the future._

_He was so enamored by his own reflection that he didn’t notice when his father entered the room._

_“Charlie.” His father’s tone was stern, and Charlie immediately felt his heart drop._

_“Dad, I didn’t mean –” Charlie started before his father cut him off with a gentle hand on his shoulder._

_“You look very pretty today.” His father told him, an earnest smile on his face._

_Charlie blinked in surprise. His father had **never** applauded him for acting in a feminine manner, much less to describe him with a feminine adjective._

_“You think so?” Charlie asked hesitantly, ready for his father to take back the compliment as swiftly as he’d given it._

_“I know so.” His father said playfully, taking a seat across from Charlie at his table, “Have room for one more in this tea party?”_

_To say Charlie was confused would’ve been the biggest understatement of his life, but he nevertheless nodded. He was willing to accept his father’s strangely accepting behavior for as long as he was willing to keep it up._

_“I think Mr. Bear needs some more tea.” His father’s voice once again brought Charlie out of his musings, “Why don’t you handle that while I take some cookies out of the oven?”_

_Charlie hardly had time to nod before his father was out of the room, leaving him alone with Mr. Bear. Charlie turned to the bear and sighed._

_“I really wish you could talk, Mr. Bear,” Charlie shook his head, “so you could tell me why dad’s being so nice to me.”_

_The bear didn’t answer him, but Charlie imagined that it would’ve given him a sympathetic look if it was capable._

_As his father came back with a tray full of butterscotch cookies, Charlie gawked at him. His father, noticing the look he was getting, raised an eyebrow._

_“Something wrong?”_

_Charlie shook his head and gestured to the cookies._

_“You really made cookies.”_

_“Have I ever lied to you before?” His father asked gently._

_Ever fiber in his being was screaming at him to say **yes** , but Charlie held his tongue. There was no need to ruin his father’s charitable mood with his own doubts._

_Taking his silence as a cue to sit down, his father did so, smiling nicely at Charlie._

_“Those earrings suit you.” His father was saying, but Charlie’s mind was stuck on the fact that his father was acting abnormally nice today, “I remember I bought those for your mother just after you were born.”_

_Charlie only nodded, taking a bite out of one of the cookies on the tray that his father had placed before him. He had to admit – the cookies were pretty good, just as good as the ones his mother let him and Jason have every other weekend.”_

_“I was thinking.” His father said, taking one of Charlie’s hands in his own larger one, “You’ve been really good this year, so I have a surprise for you.”_

_With that, his father left the room, leaving Charlie to his thoughts once more. Surely, the surprise that his father had in store for him was something mean. After all, his father could only keep up the pretense of liking him for so long._

**_Right?_ **

_As his father re-entered the room, Charlie closed his eyes tightly, only opening them once his father placed whatever his gift for him was in front of him on the table. It didn’t seem threatening, but Charlie had his guard up._

_“Open it.” His father smiled encouragingly, pushing the gift closer to him, “I know Christmas isn’t for a few more months, but I thought I’d get this for you.”_

_Charlie hesitantly opened the gift, carefully placing the wrapping paper to the side to reveal a medium sized box. Taking the lid off, Charlie gasped._

_Inside was a beautiful yellow dress, complete with lace and all._

_“Your mother told me that yellow is your favorite color.” His father said softly, “Why don’t you try it on for me? I want to know if I got the right size.”_

_Charlie bit his bottom lip nervously, looking up at his father, whose gray gaze was considerably softer than it usually was._

_“I thought –” Charlie cut himself off, prompting his father to look at him questioningly before he continued, “I thought you said that only girls could wear dresses.”_

_Charlie frowned._

_“You didn’t believe me when I said that I’m a girl inside.”_

_His father stood up, and before Charlie could register what was happening, he was being pulled into a tight hug._

_“I just want you to be happy, Charlie.” His father murmured, running a hand through Charlie’s hair before pulling back, staring him straight in the eyes, “If you’re telling me that you’re in the wrong body, as your father, I will accept you.”_

_His father hesitated._

_“I’m sorry you’ve been led to believe otherwise.”_

_It was the first time his father had ever acknowledged his true identity, and Charlie hadn’t expected the apology to sound so sincere. He wasn’t even expecting an apology in the first place!_

_Charlie hadn’t realized that there were tears in his eyes before his father reached over to wipe them away with his thumb._

_“Don’t cry, Charlie.” His father grinned, holding up the dress in front of him, “You don’t wanna get the tears on your new dress, do you?”_

_Charlie returned the grin, hugging his father once more before pulling back._

_“I love you dad.”_

_“I love you **more** , Charlie.” His father replied, “And I always will. Now why don’t you try on your new dress?”_

_Charlie eagerly took the dress from his father, moving to put it over his head before…_

It was at that moment that Charlie snapped out of his daydream. He hadn’t lied. If he squinted _just right_ , he could imagine that his father accepted him for who he was…that his father _didn’t_ hate him.

But as he stood alone in his room at Radley Sanitarium, he realized – with a grimace – that the only time his father would ever _truly_ be nice to him was in the confines of his own imagination.

**Author's Note:**

> Woke up and immediately wrote this. Don't know where it came from, only that the idea wouldn't stop gnawing at me until it was written. Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
